Salene's Secrets (39 page)

“That’s why they abducted you,” she said reluctantly. 

“I don’t understand.”

“When the Doftles tried to transport me off of the
Razor
, you three felt it and immediately began working to strengthen the shield.  I’ve no idea how they knew what you were doing, but somehow they did.  They abducted the three of you and did something to cut you off from your magic.  I don’t know what, but whatever it was, it destroyed the shield you’d put around me.  After that they were able to transport me without any trouble at all.”

“How long did the Doftles have you?”

“Just a few days, but I was only conscious for about twenty four hours before Rayne rescued me.”

Talus, Jon, and Kar relaxed a little at that, but she knew Talus wasn’t finished.  “How did you get that scar on your face?”

Salene looked at the children and saw that while Tab was staring sleepily at the fire, Mali was listening.  She chose her words carefully, not wanting to frighten her, but not wanting to lie, either. 

“The Doftles wanted me to shift,” she said.  “They refused to believe that I couldn’t, and thought to force a defensive reaction.”

“What did they use?”

“Hot iron.”

“How many scars do you have aside from the one on your face?”

“Several.”  

Talus frowned.  “Why didn’t the Bearen-Hirus put you in a healing tank once you were on the
Armadura
?  Since you were rescued in less than twenty four hours, that would have prevented scars from forming, wouldn’t it?”

“I suppose,” Salene replied uncomfortably, wishing she’d let them think she was ignorant about the Doftles.  She reached for the stack of wooden bowls and began inspecting each one to make sure they were clean. 

“Salene, please,” Talus whispered.  She looked up, then swallowed hard at the agony in his eyes.  The truth would be easier to accept than whatever his imagination was conjuring.

“Weeble took the three of you onto his yacht and escaped the Facility before the Bearen-Hirus destroyed it,” she said.  “I was unconscious when Rayne and her Rami found me, so they didn’t know that you three had also been abducted.  I woke up just as they were about to put me in a healing tank and told them about you.  They were willing to go after Weeble, but his yacht had Blind Sight.  I was the only one who could follow you, and I couldn’t do it from inside a healing tank.”

Salene checked the stew again and sighed with relief to find that it was done.  She began filling bowls and handing them around, unable to make herself look into her Gryphons’ eyes.  Only when she offered a bowl to Talus and he didn’t take it did she make herself look up.  She was expecting to find guilt and self-recrimination, the very reasons she hadn’t wanted to tell them anything to begin with.  For the second time that day, her men surprised her.  The expression of pride on Talus’s face, and Jon’s, and Kar’s soothed her wounded heart and brought tears to her eyes.

“Your capacity for love, compassion, and courage are beyond anything I’ve ever even heard of,” Talus said, his eyes dark with emotion.  “There are no words to describe how proud of you we are, or how much we love you.  But we will gladly spend the remainder of our lives trying to show you.”

“Thank you,” Salene whispered hoarsely, so relieved and so happy she could barely speak at all.  All she’d wanted was for them to be proud of her, as she’d always been proud of them.  But, even after their reaction to her power bond with Wolef, she hadn’t truly expected that they would be. 

Talus accepted the bowl she was still holding with a smile, then grasped her hand before she could pull it back and raised it to his lips.  He kissed it gently, his eyes fixed on hers, then frowned at the utter sadness in her eyes before she quickly hid it.  After a moment he released her hand, then cleared his throat, reminding himself that they weren’t alone in the cave. 

He set his bowl down, then removed the container holding Tonka’s dinner from the fire.  He took the cover off, revealing an enormous roast in a bed of rich gravy.  He picked it up and carried it over to Tonka, then set it down within easy reach of the enormous Brun.  “How’s that smell?”

“Wonderful,”
Tonka replied, licking his lips.  His nose had been telling him for several minutes that there was meat in the pan, though he had no idea how that was possible. 
“How’d you do that?”

“It’s freeze dried,” Talus said, returning to his place.  “We have about two dozen of them so there’s more than enough for us all to eat roast for the next few weeks if we want.  We have other meals as well, but we thought that would work for you.”

“
It certainly will,”
Tonka said. 
“I thank you, Talus Gryphon.  This was extremely generous of you.”

“You’re welcome, Tonka, but as you saw, it was easy enough,” Talus said.  “Just be careful till it cools down.”

“Would you like some stew while you’re waiting for it to cool?” Salene asked.

“No, thank you,”
he replied. 
“This will be more than enough for me, I’m sure.”
  He eyed the roast, his ears going down.

“What’s troubling you?” Salene asked.

Tonka’s head went up in surprise, his attention diverted from the roast for a moment. 
“I’ve been meaning to ask how it is that you read me so well, Salene.” 

“My mother had a dog that wasn’t as big as you, Tonka, but was still very big.  She saved him from a horrible fate before my sisters and I were born, and named him Tiny.  Mom has a gift for communicating with animals, but Tiny was special to her.  He saved her life once, as she saved his.  Tiny watched over and guarded us kids from the moment we were born.  We couldn’t communicate with him the way Mom did, but we learned how to read his body language before we could talk.  You’re not a dog, but there are enough similarities for me to read you fairly well, I think.”

“Better than that, actually
,” Tonka said.
  “Thank you for telling me.”

“
You’re welcome,” Salene said.  “Will you answer my question now?”

“Of course.  I’m troubled because I think that I should take this outside to eat, otherwise there’ll be a big mess.  But I don’t really want to go out into the storm and besides, without the thermal sheets, I could be spotted which would put all of us at risk.”

“I can cut it up, if you like.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but if you’re sure you don’t mind, I would appreciate it very much.”

Salene she got up and, using one of her
Kunian
steel blades, she cut the roast into bite sized slabs in just a minute or two.  “It’ll cool faster this way, too,” she said, returning to her place.

“Thank you, Salene,”
Tonka said as he plucked a slice from the top of the pile and began chewing. 

“Does your Mom still have Tiny?” Mali asked.

“No honey, I’m afraid not.  One morning about a year ago Mom found him curled up in his bed like usual, but he wasn’t asleep like she thought.  He was over twenty years old which is a very long life for a dog, but it still broke our hearts to lose him.  He was a member of our family, and we all loved him very much.”

Mali put her bowl down and got up to hug Salene.  “I’m sorry, Mom,” she said.  “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“Thank you, honey,” Salene said, hugging her back.  “And just so you know, you don’t make me sad. 
You
make me very happy.”  Mali smiled as she went back to her dinner.

They ate in silence, but it was a comfortable silence.  When the children were finished eating Salene got the new brush and a small plastic bag she’d asked the Gryphons to include with the supplies from the
Aegl
and brushed Mali’s hair until it was smooth and silky.  Then she handed the little bag to her. 

“Those are yours, honey,” she said.  “Why don’t you open it up and choose one for your pony tail.”

Mali looked up at her with round eyes, then carefully opened the little bag, reached inside and pulled out several brightly colored hair elastics that were smaller than the ones Salene used.  “These are for me?” Mali asked.  “Really?”

“Yes honey, they’re for you,” Salene said with a grin, enjoying Mali’s reaction.  “Which one do you want to wear tonight?”

“The pink one, please,” Mali said, choosing a pastel pink elastic from the small pile in her hand. 

“Pink it is,” Salene said, then put her hair in a loose pony tail for sleeping.  Mali returned the remaining elastics to the bag and sealed it. 

“Will you carry this for me please, Mom?” she asked.  “I don’t want to lose them.”

“Of course I will,” Salene replied, kissing her on the top of her head before taking the elastics and putting them back in her pack.  Then she spent a few minutes brushing Tab’s curls so he wouldn’t feel left out.  When she was finished he turned around and gave her a thank you hug, along with a kiss on the cheek. 

She used the pretreated cleaning wipes she’d asked for from the
Aegl
to wash their faces and hands, then gave them each a disposable toothbrush and showed them how to use them.  She wasn’t altogether shocked that they’d never had toothbrushes before, but it still hurt something inside of her to know how much they’d gone without.  Once they were cleaned up as much as possible, she helped them into bed with the softer, fluffier, and warmer sleeping bag that had both children smiling in surprise.  She tucked them in before giving each of them a kiss goodnight, only this time they kissed her back. 

With the children settled, she took a moment to put the used wipes and toothbrushes in a plastic container in her pack for later disposal, then washed the bowls and utensils they’d used, setting them aside to dry.  The Gryphons had cleaned the cooking containers while she was putting the children to bed, so there wasn’t anything else to do.  She removed her boots and took off her weapons, but kept them close enough to reach if she needed them.  When she was settled, Jon handed her a cup of hot chocolate.

“Thanks,” she said, breathing in the chocolaty steam before taking a sip.  “You guys seem tense.”

“I’m not sure
tense
is the right word,” Talus said, speaking softly.  “We have a bit of a surprise for you once the children fall asleep.”

“All right,” Salene said, wondering what they could possibly surprise her with under the circumstances.  She wanted to pepper them with questions, but one thing she knew about her men was that they’d never tell her anything until they were good and ready, so she kept her questions to herself.

“There’s something we’re curious about,” Talus said.

“Which is?”

“We were wondering what you did to kill that hybrid.”

Salene nodded, realizing that the time had come to tell them about the diamond.  “I’m not really sure, to be honest.” 

“You don’t know what you did?” Talus asked in surprise.

“Not exactly, no,” she replied.  “After Wolef gave me his power I practiced drawing it, and putting it back like he said.  Jinjie helped me a lot with that, but I never could figure out how to
use
it.  He said that when the time came, it would be there.  Looks like he was right.”

“What do you mean,
drawing
and
putting back
?” Kar asked.

Salene reached up to touch the red stone on her forehead, hoping that they didn’t get angry.  It had been a long and emotional day for all of them as it was.  But she couldn’t put them off again, either.

“The power Wolef gave me is dragon power, and even though I’m Clan Jasani, I’m still more human than not.  It wouldn’t be safe to have that kind of power inside of me for an extended period of time.  He said I needed what he called a
buffer
, something strong enough to hold the power when I wasn’t using it, but small enough to bond with my flesh so that I could draw on it when I needed it.”

She sipped her drink while trying to brace herself for their reaction.  “The day he came to tell me that he hadn’t been able to find a suitable buffer, he found me going through some of my things from the
Ugaztun
.  I’d just discovered a black velvet box that held a ring I’d never seen before.  It was a golden diamond solitaire set in white gold, with your initials engraved on the band.”  She risked a glance up, relieved to find that they looked surprised and interested, but not angry.  Yet.  “When Wolef saw the diamond he said that it was strong enough to hold his power, so I asked him to make this from it.”  She reached up to touch the stone again. 

“But the stone is red,” Jon pointed out. 

“Yes,” Salene said, glad to find that they still weren’t angry.  “When it holds the dragon power its red.  When I draw the power from it, it returns to its normal color, and my eyes turn red.”

“You expect us to be angry,” Talus said.  She nodded.  “Why?”

“Because I know that the golden diamond is a rare and valuable stone, and that this is not the purpose you intended for it.  I should have returned it to you.  I knew that at the time, but I used it anyway.”

“Why?” Kar asked.  “After what you believed we’d done, why did you want it bonded to your flesh?”